nation together in useful service and willing sacrifice. Could anyone
read the royal speech to the nation on July 6th, 1918, and the words of
the Archbishop of Canterbury at St. Paul's, and of the leaders in
Parliament, without feeling what a mighty influence for good there is in
the British monarchy? Those words were not decorous platitudes demanded
by convention, but the expression of genuine and intense feeling.

The sober freedom out of which there springs
Our loyal passion for our temperate kings

is an inheritance of our country which no theoretical discussions about
forms of government can interfere with, unless we are insane enough to
abandon the practical good sense that has brought the nation safely
through so many perils, in deference to some _a priori_ argument about
the best form of government, and the logical result of some so-called
principles. In politics--always using the term in its broad meaning, and
not as denoting the disputes and manoeuvres of parties, like the
contests between the green and blue factions of Byzantium--there is a
strong presumption that whatever is recommended as "logical" is also
foolish. It would be well to prescribe a severe course of Burke for the
_a priori_ theorists, and while they are occupied with it, set ourselves
to the real work. We should not forget, too, that Court influence, which
in some past times fostered corruption in political life, has for eighty
years been as a rule a purifying influence. It would not be easy for any
Minister, pressed by the political exigencies of the hour, to submit,
even for formal approval, to a sovereign who has only the national
interest to think of, perhaps most difficult of all to a high-minded and
clear-headed woman, a course of action that was dishonourable or mean.

However important the influence of the Crown and the functions of a